Double Brown Sugar Butter Glazed Banana Bread Scones

Someday I will learn how to manage a bunch of bananas. Meaning, I’ll buy just the right amount that are exactly the correct ripeness so as not to have two or three that go brown on me before they’re eaten. Until that day comes, I have to figure out new and exciting things to do with the abandoned-too-ripe-to-be-consumed-any-way-but-as-banana-mush bananas. Since my children have teeth, it seems cruel to feed them anything the texture of baby food. This recipe screamed out to be made for two reasons.
#1: I love banana bread.
#2: I love scones.
Combining the two into one amazing breakfast food? Genius!

First, mash-up your bananas and mix them with a little vanilla and either sour cream or yogurt. Easy. You don’t even need a picture of that. Place your dry ingredients in a separate bowl and dot with little cubes of butter.

Then get the butter all combined with a pastry blender, fork or your hands. I prefer my hands. Yes, I’m 32 years old and still love to play with my food. Side note: I cannot decide if this shirt (it’s really more like a jacket) that I’m wearing is epic and awesome, or if it looks like my grandmother’s couch. Hmmmm.

Once the butter pieces are all smaller than a pea – not the whole pod…just one pea – you combine it with the mushy banana mixture. You can add nuts if you want – I didn’t. Because nuts in baked goods give me the creeps. Then, dump it out onto a parchment paper lined dinner plate. Yeah, kind of looks like a pile of too-thick oatmeal huh? Don’t worry, it gets better.

Pat it into a round and then pop it into the freezer to chill out for a bit. I floured my hands for this bit as the dough was suuuuuper sticky.

Once it’s firmed up a little in the freezer, take it out, remove the paper and set it on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper). Then cut the round into 8 wedges.

Separate the wedges so the scones have room to bake up nice and puffy. Then into a hot oven.

If you’d walked into my house while these were baking, you’d have sworn there was banana bread in the hopper. That rich sweet smell just filled the whole place. (inhale deeply) I love that smell. Apparently so does my daughter. It wafted to her room and awoke her from napping. She “followed her nose downstairs to the kitchen”. When the scones came out they were golden and craggy. Just how scones should be.

Then for the glaze. I’m telling you something right now. Brown sugar butter glaze is absolutely the most evil thing on the planet. I took a little taste before drenching the scones in this stuff and had a food-gasm. Seriously. It took my breath away. And, I may have moaned. Just a little. At that point I didn’t even care if the scones tasted good. Because I knew I could slather this glaze on an old shoe and it would be heavenly.

As gorgeous as they looked on the outside, the real test is the texture and taste. I have high standards when it comes to scones. They cannot. Absolutely must not be dry. Not even a hint of anything resembling crumbly dry. Nope. These were perfection. Craggy and sweet, full of rich banana flavor and exactly the right soft interior.

Really, these could not be any prettier…or more delicious. They’re like the popular girl in school, who you think could never actually be nice because she’s so adorable. And then you get to know her, and she’s just the sweetest, most generous person you’ve ever met. Like that. Ok, possibly girls like that don’t exist. At least not in high school — but scones that amazing do.

Mash the bananas and if needed add enough milk to make one cup. Stir in the milk, yogurt and vanilla extract.

In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together. Cut the butter into pieces and cut it into the dry ingredients using a fork, pastry cutter, or your finger tips until there are no pieces of butter larger than a pea.

Add the banana mixture to the flour and stir just enough to incorporate all of the flour. Fold in the walnuts, if using.

Line a dinner plate with a piece of parchment or wax paper and turn the dough out on top. Pat it into a disk about 1-inch thick and cover with another piece of wax paper. Put in freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and invert the scones onto the baking sheet, peeling off the second layer of parchment paper.

Slice the scones into eight wedges and pull them apart a little to give them some room to expand. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the scones are firm to the touch and golden-brown around the edges.

Cool completely and cut apart any scones that baked together.

To make the glaze, melt the butter and the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and vanilla, and stir until the sugar has melted (heat for an additional 30 seconds in the microwave if necessary). Whisk in the confectioner’s sugar, starting with 1/4 cup and adding more as needed to make a thick glaze.

Glaze the scones, allow glaze to cool then drizzle more glaze on top. Store tightly covered in a cool place up to 4 days.

I love banana bread too. And I’ve made your Banana bites many many times. When I buy bananas I usually buy 2 very green bananas, 2 slightly green bananas, and 2 ripe bananas. That way by the time I eat the ripe ones, the slightly green ones are ripe. And then by the time I eat the slightly green ones (that are now ripe), the ones that were very green are ripe. By doing this I no longer am throwing bananas into the freezer to save.